Introduction

HREOC commends the Commonwealth government on making homelessness a priority
issue and recognising that adequate housing is fundamental to social inclusion.
Recognition of homelessness as a human rights issue should assist in the
development of policy and programs to address homelessness.

Summary

Access to safe and secure housing is a fundamental human right.

Safe and secure housing is also fundamental to social inclusion. Achieving
social inclusion through the protection of human rights should be central to
three important stages of addressing homelessness:

prevention of homelessness

respecting the rights of people experiencing homelessness

creating pathways out of homelessness.

Enhanced protection of the rights of people experiencing homelessness and
greater accountability to reduce homelessness could be achieved through the
incorporation of universal human rights standards, including rights about
housing, into Australian law. This could be achieved through the adoption of a
federal charter of rights.

In addition, federal and state legislative frameworks regarding housing and
homelessness, such as supported accommodation, public housing, tenancy laws,
eviction laws, and public space laws, should be reviewed to ensure compliance
with minimum universal human rights standards.

people with disability, including mental health and accessibility
issues

asylum seekers and immigration

welfare payments.

Homelessness, human rights
and social inclusion

HREOC welcomes the recognition in the Green Paper that adequate housing is
fundamental to social inclusion, and that the rights and responsibilities of
individuals and families are paramount. HREOC also welcomes the commitment that
governments are to be held accountable for the delivery of strategies to address
homelessness.

Breaches of human rights contribute to social marginalisation and
homelessness.[2] In order to promote
social inclusion, the government’s strategy to address homelessness would
benefit from recognition of the relationship between breaches of human rights,
social marginalisation and homelessness. The government should use
international human rights standards to inform the development of the rights,
responsibilities and accountability requirements set out in the strategy.

Access to safe and secure housing is a fundamental human
right.[3] The Commonwealth government
is obliged under international law to devote the maximum of its available
resources towards progressively ensuring that all people have somewhere to live
in security, peace and
dignity.[4]

The right to adequate housing is more than simply a right to shelter. This
right has been defined by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (CESCR). Whether housing is adequate depends on a range of
factors including: legal security of tenure; availability of facilities and
infrastructure; affordability; accessibility by disadvantaged groups;
habitability; location; and cultural
adequacy.[5]

HREOC welcomes the Green Paper’s acknowledgment of the
interconnectedness of the issues facing people experiencing homelessness. A lack
of secure housing can affect a person’s enjoyment of a wide range of other
human rights, including rights to education, employment, healthcare, privacy,
and personal safety.[6] Enjoyment of
these basic human rights is essential to a person’s ability to actively
participate in society. Consequently, the enjoyment of human rights is
fundamental to social inclusion.

As noted above, achieving social inclusion through the protection of human
rights should be central to three important stages of addressing
homelessness:

prevention of homelessness

respecting the rights of people experiencing homelessness

creating pathways out of homelessness.

Improving protection of the human rights of people at risk of homelessness
is a critical step in preventing homelessness. Enjoyment of basic rights is
essential to our ability to actively participate in the community and to remain
in control of our lives. This approach is outlined in Principles 2 and 3 of the
principles for change in the Green
Paper.[7]

While the ultimate goal of any strategy to address homelessness must be to
reduce the incidence of homelessness, it is also important to ensure that those
experiencing homelessness are treated with dignity and respect. This principle
is fundamental to human rights and is recognised by Principle 4 of the
principles for change in the Green
Paper.[8]

Creating pathways out of homelessness is not just about providing adequate
housing. It is also about providing people with tools to make positive decisions
about their lives, to build connections with the community and to realise a
range of basic human rights. This requires ensuring that all Australians have an
adequate income and standard of living, opportunities for education and
employment, access to healthcare, and opportunities to participate in the
political and social processes which affect them.

Recognising the relationship between homelessness, human rights and social
inclusion highlights the need to directly and meaningfully involve people who
are homeless or who were formerly homeless in the development of solutions to
homelessness.

Active and informed participation has the potential to empower people
experiencing homelessness and to create more effective and relevant services.
Participation is a fundamental element of a human rights approach to
homelessness.

A strategy which addresses homelessness as a human rights issue involves all
levels of government committing to measurable outcomes and taking concrete and
targeted legislative, policy and budgetary steps towards the full realisation of
the human rights of homeless
persons.[9]

HREOC commends the Commonwealth government on its leadership and commitment
to a national and long-term approach to addressing homelessness.

HREOC notes the recommendation of the CESCR in its Concluding Observations
on Australia’s latest state party report:

The Committee strongly recommends that the State party, at the
federal level, develop a housing strategy in keeping with the Committee’s
General Comments No. 4 and 7, including provisions to protect tenants from
forced eviction without reasons and from arbitrary rent increases. In addition,
the Committee recommends that the State party ensure that all State and
Territory governments establish appropriate housing policies in accordance with
this strategy.[10]

In 2007 the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing called on
Australia to develop a ‘comprehensive and coordinated national housing
policy... [that] embodies an overarching human rights approach, with the primary
task of meeting the needs of the most vulnerable
groups’.[11]

Recommendation 1: The Commonwealth government should develop a
national housing strategy. Addressing homelessness would be a key aspect of any
housing plan. This strategy should be developed in consultation with people who
are homeless or formerly homeless, people who are inadequately housed, and their
representatives.

Legal protection of the rights of
people experiencing homelessness

Protection in Australian law of the rights of people experiencing
homelessness could be enhanced.[12]

HREOC notes that agreed international human rights standards, including
rights about housing, have not yet been fully incorporated into Australian law.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing has recommended
that:

Federal and state authorities should make bigger efforts to
explicitly incorporate the wide range of international human rights instruments
to which Australia is a party, into the domestic legal
system.[13]

Australia does not currently have a national law to protect human rights
through a mechanism such as a charter of rights. A federal charter of
rights could include the protection of economic, social and cultural rights such
as the right to adequate housing. A federal charter of rights should include
appropriate remedies for those whose rights have been violated. HREOC commends
the government on its intention to hold a national consultation on how to best
recognise and protect human rights in
Australia.[14]

On 18 June 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (the Optional
Protocol).[15] The Optional
Protocol would allow a person to make a complaint to the CESCR about a
denial of their rights, including their right to adequate housing, under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
The Human Rights Council has recommended that the UN General Assembly adopt and
open the Optional Protocol for signature, ratification and accession.

HREOC notes that consideration of the Optional Protocol will be an ongoing
issue for the Commonwealth government.

HREOC welcomes the recognition in the Green Paper that all people who are
homeless or at risk of homelessness need access to stable and affordable
housing.

HREOC notes that the Supported Accommodation Assistance Act 1994 (Cth) (SAA Act) aims to promote and protect the rights of people
experiencing homelessness.[16] However, this legislation could further implement the right to adequate housing
in Australia.

In particular, the SAA Act could:

provide homeless people with a right of access to services or
assistance

guarantee that emergency and supported housing fulfils the adequacy
requirements.

As noted in the Green Paper, SAAP services turn away a significant number of
people each day, particularly families with children.

Further, particular groups of people may be excluded from SAAP services,
including people:

who use, are dependent on, or are affected by drugs and/or alcohol

who exhibit or who have previously exhibited violence or other challenging
behaviour

affected by mental illness

with disability, including people with physical disability, intellectual
disability or acquired brain
injury.[17]

The failure to ensure access to SAAP services for people defined as homeless
may constitute a violation of Australia’s obligation to implement the
right to adequate housing.

According to the CESCR, the obligation of states under the ICESCR to
progressively realise the right to adequate housing includes a minimum core
obligation to provide immediate support for the needs of individuals deprived of
basic shelter and housing.[18]

Therefore, at a minimum, all Australian governments have an obligation to
provide homeless people with a right to access emergency and supported
accommodation as an element of the right to adequate
housing.[19]

A recent model has been developed in Scotland where housing legislation
guarantees the right of homeless people to secure adequate housing and requires
local authorities to recognise this right. This right is to be progressively
implemented over ten years, after which time every homeless person in Scotland
will have a right to access
housing.[20]

Recommendation 2: The Supported Accommodation Assistance Act
1994 (Cth) should be amended to provide for a right, to be progressively
realised, to emergency housing and related services for those defined as
homeless.[21]

Implementation of the right to adequate housing for homeless people would
also require the government to ensure that SAAP accommodation meets the
standards of adequacy under human rights
law.[22] Although SAAP service
standards exist, and might be expected to require accommodation of a standard
adequate under human rights law, they do not currently provide this level of
guarantee.

It is important to recognise that what constitutes adequate housing will
differ according to the specific needs of vulnerable groups.

Recommendation 3: The Supported Accommodation Assistance Act
1994 (Cth) should be amended to include national standards providing that
housing under the Act must be
adequate.[23]

Effective remedies
for people whose housing rights are violated

The provision of effective remedies is fundamental to the implementation of
human rights obligations. Certain remedies for breaches of the right to adequate
housing exist in Australia. For example, an eviction conducted without proper
process may be challenged in a court or a residential tenancies tribunal.
However, in many instances, effective remedies have not yet been
established.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing identified the
lack of mechanisms for people to complain about breaches of housing rights as a
significant problem in
Australia.[24]

HREOC’s functions are limited with regard to the right to adequate
housing as rights under the ICESCR are not part of the definition of
‘human rights’ under the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission Act 1986 (Cth).[25]

Further, Australia’s current anti-discrimination laws do not prohibit
discrimination on the grounds of social status or housing
status.[26] Discrimination on these
grounds is widely experienced by homeless people in the areas of accommodation
and the provision of goods and services.

Protection against
forced evictions

As noted in the Green Paper, forced evictions can be a key factor in leading
people into homelessness.[27]

Forced evictions are considered to be a violation of a wide range of human
rights under international law. Forced evictions usually affect the poorest and
most economically vulnerable and marginalised sectors of
society.[28]

The CESCR has identified forced evictions, in particular, as a violation of
the human right to adequate housing. The CESCR notes that:

evictions should not result in rendering individuals homeless or
vulnerable to the violation of other human rights. Where those affected are
unable to provide for themselves, the State party must take all appropriate
measures, to the maximum of its available resources, to ensure that adequate
alternative housing, resettlement or access to productive land, as the case may
be, is available.[29]

The Commonwealth government must ensure that evictions from all forms of
housing do not lead to homelessness.

Eviction from SAAP accommodation should be a measure of last resort, and no
person should be evicted from SAAP accommodation until alternative accommodation
is found.

Recommendation 4: The Supported Accommodation Assistance Act
1994 (Cth) should be amended to ensure that forced eviction from SAAP
accommodation is a measure of last
resort.[30]

Evictions from public housing can also lead to homelessness. In certain
cases, evictions may be a consequence of breaches of behavioural standards.
Eviction in these circumstances may be a disproportionate response. Government
public housing authorities are under an obligation to ensure that their decision
to evict a tenant does not lead to the person being made homeless.

Evictions from private housing can also lead to homelessness. Where a
private landlord is entitled to an eviction order against a private tenant,
governments are also required to take all reasonable steps to prevent the person
being evicted from becoming homelessness.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing noted that there is no
national policy approach to state and territory residential tenancy legislation
in Australia. He commented that in most states and territories these laws
‘allow landlords to freely evict tenants, or increase rents requiring the
tenant to take formal remedial action to prove such an increase is
excessive’.[31] People who are
forcibly evicted are unable to seek adequate compensation and there are no
appropriate relocation services for people who cannot secure alternative
accommodation themselves.[32]

In South Africa, the right to adequate housing is protected under the South African
Constitution.[33] The South
African courts have dealt with the obligations on government authorities to
prevent homelessness arising from evictions, including evictions from private
housing. The courts have decided that, before making an order to evict a person
into homelessness, the court may require the government housing authority to
advise the court whether the person will be housed following the
eviction.[34] The court is then
able to ensure that the eviction does not lead to the person being made
homeless.

Residential tenancy laws in Australia could be reviewed to enable courts and
tribunals to require government housing authorities to advise the court on
housing options for a person facing homelessness. This would prevent vulnerable
people, particularly where children are involved, from being evicted before
arrangements are in place for alternative housing. This is an example of how
residential tenancy laws could be improved to help prevent homelessness.

Recommendation 5: The Commonwealth government should encourage and
facilitate a review of state and territory residential tenancy laws in order to
ensure compliance with international human rights standards, including
protection from forced
evictions.[35]

The impact of public
space laws

HREOC welcomes the Green Paper’s recognition that people experiencing
homelessness are disproportionately affected by public space laws which
criminalise poverty and homelessness, prohibiting begging, sleeping, bathing,
urinating, storing belongings and drinking in public. Homeless people are also
affected by ‘move on’ powers that authorise police to displace
people who occupy and live in public
spaces.[36]

Public space laws disproportionately affect Indigenous people. ‘Living
rough’ in public spaces is the most visible face of Indigenous
homelessness and also one of the most complex. People living in the ‘long
grass’ and other groups of Indigenous people who camp in public places,
such as riverbeds and parks, may do so for a variety of reasons. Some camp in
public places because they have nowhere else to go or no means to get home. Some
may choose to live in these places for cultural or social reasons, in light of
the lack of alternative forms of culturally appropriate housing.

The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute argues that:

A person may have a sense of ‘home’, and a sense of
belonging to a place (or set of places), and a recognition and acceptance in
such a place, but nevertheless may not have any conventional
accommodation.[37]

This complexity requires consideration when developing a range of
appropriate responses to Indigenous homelessness, including outreach health,
income and support services.

Indigenous people living in public places often come into contact with the
justice system through ‘move on’ laws which leave them feeling
harassed. There are also concerns that the use of police enforcement measures,
such as tasers, on homeless people who have mental illness, heart conditions,
are elderly or young, or may be using drugs and alcohol, poses a greater risk of
serious harm. Further, contact with the police through the ‘move
on’ laws can easily escalate resulting in more serious charges that may
lead to imprisonment. This is of concern given the current over-representation
of Indigenous people within the criminal justice system.

Enforcement of public space laws through fines, arrest and imprisonment
undermines the objectives of bringing people into stable housing and maximising
their social inclusion.

International jurisprudence suggests that these laws may violate the right
to freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.[38] Courts in the United
States have held that these types of laws violate the constitutional right to
freedom from cruel and unusual punishment because they punish homeless people on
the basis of their status and not because of their
conduct.[39] When there is
insufficient crisis accommodation or public housing to support homeless people,
homeless people are forced to break the law involuntarily as they have no
alternative but to perform these acts in
public.[40]

The existence of laws which criminalise poverty and homelessness was
identified by the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing as a significant
impediment to Australia’s implementation of the right to adequate
housing.[41]

Recommendation 6: State and territory governments should be
encouraged to review and amend laws that disproportionately impact upon people
experiencing homelessness, such as public drinking laws and public sleeping
laws, to ensure that fundamental human rights are
protected.[42]

Women

As highlighted in the Green Paper, domestic and family violence is the
leading cause of homelessness amongst
women.[43]

HREOC supports the acknowledgment that finding secure and affordable housing
options for all women escaping violence must be a priority. It is also important
to ensure that housing is appropriate and adapted to meet the diverse needs of
different women.[44] In some cases,
women may require financial support to assist them to remain in the family home
after the perpetrator of violence has moved out. In other cases, support must be
directed at facilitating the transition from a refuge into independent,
appropriate and stable
accommodation.[45]

The government’s new approach to homelessness must be fully integrated
with strategies to address violence against women and their children, including
the proposed National Plan on Reducing Violence against Women and Children, in
order secure the human rights of women experiencing domestic and family
violence.

Recommendation 7: The government’s homelessness strategy should
be fully integrated with the development of the National Plan on Reducing
Violence against Women and Children.

Another major factor that affects the housing circumstances of women is
relationship breakdown. This is noted by the Green Paper as one of the main
socio-economic causes of homelessness in
Australia.[46]

The termination of a marriage or a long-term relationship can have a
significant adverse effect on the financial circumstances of
women.[47] This effect may be
particularly acute for women with dependent children and older women who may
have had a longer period of dependency on a partner with less ability to secure
an independent income. Women overall have a lower earning capacity than men due
to several factors including:

that women primarily fulfil caring responsibilities

pay inequity

over representation of women in lower paid, insecure, casual
employment.[48]

Consequently, strategies to address women’s economic security and
independence, including during and following separation and divorce, and across
the lifecycle are essential to ensuring sustainable housing outcomes.

Recommendation 8: The government’s homelessness strategy should
incorporate strategies which address the particular vulnerability of women to
homelessness due to poverty and lack of economic security.

Children and Young people

As noted in the Green Paper, child and youth homelessness is one of the
biggest problems facing Australia. Young people experiencing homelessness are
among the most marginalised people in our society and are at risk of serious
breaches of their rights as set out in the Convention on the Rights of the
Child (CRC), including rights to an adequate standard of living, education,
safety and health.

HREOC supports the range of initiatives outlined in the Green Paper for
improving education, training and employment outcomes and family connections of
young people experiencing homelessness.

Supported
Accommodation Assistance Program services

HREOC welcomes the government’s acknowledgment that homelessness
services often lack the capacity and resources to adequately support the needs
of the large numbers of families with children, and independent young people
seeking assistance.

The Green Paper identifies that children are not counted in SAAP data
collection as clients and funding for responding to the needs of children is not
specifically allocated through
SAAP.[49]

Specifically, the SAA Act does not recognise children and young people below
school leaving age as a specific group for the purpose of making service
agreements, unless they are part of families or accompanying
women.[50] It is assumed that these
children and young people will be looked after by state child protection
authorities.[51] This means there
are no targeted resources to assist children and young people experiencing
homelessness.

Recommendation 9: The SAAP funding framework should be amended to
recognise children and young people as a specific client group so that
designated funding can be provided for adequate child-specific services.

HREOC notes the Preamble of the SAA Act makes reference to the CRC.

Article 3 of the CRC requires that in ‘all actions concerning
children, whether undertaken by private or public social welfare institutions,
courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best
interests of the child shall be a primary consideration’.

Currently, consideration of this principle and other child rights are not
incorporated into processes for developing policy and delivering services to
children and young people experiencing homelessness.

Recommendation 10: The Supported Accommodation Assistance Act
1994 (Cth) should be amended to incorporate the best interests of the child
as a principle guiding both the development of SAAP policy and the delivery of
homelessness services that affect children.

Care and protection
services

The Green Paper highlights the well-documented correlation between state
care and protection and
homelessness.[52]

HREOC notes that there is evidence that a large number of children and young
people are referred to and seek assistance from SAAP services when state care
and protection services are unable to provide them with adequate
support.[53] There is also evidence
that young people who leave care when they reach a certain age are at
significant risk of becoming
homeless.[54]

HREOC acknowledges that the government is currently developing a national
child protection framework to address these issues. HREOC urges that this
framework be fully integrated with the government’s new approach to
homelessness.[55]

Recommendation 11: The Commonwealth government should coordinate the
development of a national care and protection policy to ensure that children at
risk of homelessness are given prioritised support.

Services for
Indigenous children

As has been frequently reported, most recently in the Little Children are
Sacred report, there is a high prevalence of child abuse in Indigenous
communities.[56] Indigenous children
at risk of abuse are vulnerable to becoming homeless.

Access to Indigenous community services is an important means of preventing
vulnerable children from becoming homeless.

The 2007 Social Justice Report examined the ‘Safe Families’
program run by Tangentyere Council in Alice Springs as a way of providing
culturally appropriate accommodation and support for children at risk or already
involved in the child protection
system.[57] Safe Families has
achieved great success and provides an essential service but has experienced
difficulty in gaining sustainable funding. This demonstrates the need for more
streamlined and less bureaucratic funding processes in the homelessness
sector.

Initiatives like the ‘Safe Haven’ partnership between the
Commonwealth government and Queensland government to provide appropriate
accommodation and support to avoid children’s placement with child
protection authorities should also be considered in other parts of the
country.[58]

Recommendation 12: Indigenous community programs and services that
provide accommodation and support for Indigenous children at risk should be
identified and supported.

Indigenous people

Indigenous
definitions of homelessness

The Green Paper rightly points out that Indigenous people are likely to
experience homelessness because of the high levels of social and economic
disadvantage.

According to the 2006 Census, there were 4116 Indigenous people who were
homeless on Census night. This included 2283 Indigenous people with no
conventional accommodation (i.e. in improvised dwellings or sleeping rough), 662
in hostels, refuges or night shelters, and 1171 residing temporarily with
others.[59] The Northern Territory
recorded the largest number of Indigenous homeless people (1143), followed by
Queensland (1019).[60]

Correspondingly, there were 16 200 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people aged 15 years or over who received SAAP support in 2005-06, making up 17%
of all SAAP clients.[61] In every
state and territory, Indigenous clients of SAAP services were substantially
over-represented relative to the proportion of Indigenous people in those
jurisdictions.[62]

However, Indigenous homelessness can be a distinct experience from
non-Indigenous homelessness, with different causes, dynamics and solutions.
Various reports have argued that there needs to be a distinct definition of
Indigenous homelessness:

the notion of ‘home’ or
‘house’ can be differently perceived by Indigenous and non
Indigenous. Housing for Indigenous communities necessitates a close examination
of its cultural adequacy to the way of life of these
communities.[63]

The 2006 report Indigenous Homelessness within Australia recognises
five different forms of Indigenous homelessness:

spiritual homelessness (separation from traditional land or family)

overcrowding

relocation and transient homelessness (which results in temporary,
intermittent and often cyclical patterns of homelessness due to transient and
mobile lifestyles, and also results in a larger proportion of the Aboriginal and
Islander population, relative to the non-Indigenous population, having to travel
to obtain services)

These categories are more complex and nuanced that the definition used in
the Green Paper (primary, secondary and tertiary homelessness).

National consultations undertaken as part of the 2006 Indigenous
Homelessness within Australia report all argued for the inclusion of the
spiritual element to articulate another dimension of homelessness that is
distinct from non-Indigenous experience, as well as to reinforce the deep
Indigenous connection to land and
country.[65] Disconnection from land
and country impacts negatively on individual, family and community wellbeing.
Addressing homelessness is not just about bricks and mortar, but helping to
re-establish the connections that build strong Indigenous communities.

Homelessness, like all issues affecting Indigenous people, needs to be
treated holistically. Housing and any other support services need to be built on
a foundation of cultural safety and as part of broader community
development.

Indigenous housing
crisis

In 2006, the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing identified that there
was an Indigenous housing crisis in Australia. He argued that the following
factors have led to a ‘severe housing crisis’ which is likely to
worsen in coming years as a result of the rapid rate of population growth in
Indigenous communities:

Many Indigenous people enter poverty and homelessness as a result of poor
educational and employment opportunities

Indigenous people are vulnerable to homelessness when they are forced to
move in order to access employment and income support

The removal or temporary suspension of welfare benefits can increase the
chances of an Indigenous person becoming homeless

A recent survey of housing in the Northern Territory by Professor Torzillo
found that 65% of houses surveyed in remote communities did not have a working
shower. Such inadequate housing can severely impact on the health of residents.
While we applaud initiatives to improve health through better housing, like the
‘Fixing Houses for Better Health’ program, there is still a long way
to go if we are to close the gap in Indigenous and non-Indigenous housing and
health outcomes.

The amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976 (NT) were a
point of concern noted by the Special Rapporteur, as contributing to inadequate
housing, by undermining security of tenure. More recently, the Social Justice
Report 2007 outlined concerns about the compulsory acquisition of property
without the protection of just terms compensation as further undermining
security of tenure on a community-wide level.

Ensuring that housing is culturally appropriate is necessary to make a
difference to Indigenous homelessness. This means that consultation must occur
with local people to ensure that housing design meets local cultural and
environmental needs.[67]

HREOC supports the broad intention to move away from the crisis model of the
SAAP service provision towards a more integrated, holistic response that
addresses the Indigenous housing crisis.

However, there also seems to be a shift towards provision of services
through mainstream agencies. The experience of mainstreaming Indigenous services
thus far has been problematic. Given that Indigenous homelessness is so complex,
a one size fits all approach will not give enough flexibility and creativity to
solve the problem of Indigenous homelessness. In this regard, it is important to
ensure that specific services for Indigenous people, especially services
provided by Indigenous staff, are well resourced and made accessible to
Indigenous communities.

Recommendation 13: The work of the National Joint Policy Commission
on Indigenous Housing should be integrated with the strategies targeting
homelessness to ensure a comprehensive national approach to Indigenous housing
and homelessness.

Overcrowding –
hidden homelessness

Overcrowding is the hidden face of Indigenous homelessness. In 2004-05,
nationally, 26.9% of Indigenous people (aged 18 years and older) were living in
overcrowded households, with a staggering 65.3% experiencing overcrowding in the
Northern Territory.[68]

Overcrowding results in poor health outcomes and can also increase the risk
of family violence and child protection issues, as documented in the Little
Children are Sacred report. In this report, Anderson and Wild found that
children living in overcrowded housing were more likely to be exposed to
pornography, adults having sex and intoxicated
adults.[69] Lack of privacy and
space can contribute to tempers fraying and family violence affecting women and
children.

Overcrowding can also lead to long-term housing problems. Breach of tenancy
agreements by overcrowding, and resulting anti-social behaviour complaints by
neighbours, can be lasting strikes on Indigenous people’s tenancy records,
which can lead to them being moved down the list in the allocation of public
housing. This may lead to Indigenous people waiting longer than they should for
adequate housing.

Family
violence

Family violence is the most common reason for Indigenous people to be
seeking assistance from a SAAP organisation. The dynamics of Indigenous family
violence and subsequent need for housing are often different to that of
non-Indigenous women and children, particularly in remote areas. Indigenous
women may access a safe house to escape immediate situations of violence, to
prevent violence from occurring or to have some time out. It is often a
temporary way to manage violence in the community rather than a means to escape
or to end contact with the violent partner.

Indigenous male perpetrators of family violence have also identified a need
for ‘time-out places’, where they can remove themselves from the
family home for a temporary period, thus removing themselves from situations
where they might carry out acts of family violence. Such places can also be an
opportunity for men to meet and obtain support from other men. Having a
‘time-out place’ could benefit some men by giving them options,
other than moving out of home, that will assist them in stopping their acts of
family violence, and could contribute to reduced homelessness among men in this
situation.

The 2007 Social Justice Report provided a number of case studies about
promising practice in addressing family violence and child abuse, including a
case study of the Yuendumu Safe House. However, HREOC has also heard about
communities like Balgo in Western Australia where, despite the very high levels
of family violence, there is no safe house in the community.

In addition to providing essential emergency accommodation for women, the
presence of a community controlled safe house can also serve to empower women
and reinforce the view that family violence is unacceptable. Safe houses are
often run by women’s groups that provide other services, such as night
patrol and children’s services, representing a multidimensional service
that can address the causes of homelessness.

Recommendation 14: Indigenous community services to provide
accommodation support and assistance for Indigenous women and children
experiencing family violence should be supported, and mainstream SAAP services
should be adequately resourced to meet the specific needs of Indigenous women
and children.

Indigenous
prisoners

Indigenous people exiting prison or juvenile justice facilities are
particularly at risk of homelessness. Indigenous prisoners are one of the most
disadvantaged groups of prisoners and often have very poor access to housing
when they leave custody. Lack of accommodation has been found to be a critical
factor in the continuation of the cycle of crime, thus preventing rehabilitation
and reintegration.

The 2004 Social Justice Report focused on the post-release needs of
Indigenous women prisoners and found significant gaps in housing support for
women leaving prison. Indigenous women leaving prison have very few options.
Crisis accommodation is limited and there are few medium to long-term
accommodation programs. Many Indigenous women prisoners face either returning to
a violent partner or ending up on the streets, both of which increase the
likelihood of reoffending.[70]

Indigenous women and men prisoners may also have mental health or substance
abuse issues which can further limit their accommodation options. Oglivy
comments:

the special need of prisoners frequently make accessing
programs of one sort or another difficult. For example, many domestic violence
shelters exclude people with drug problems and many hostels exclude women with
children. Given that for women prisoners, coping with drug related issues and
motherhood are often critical to their re-integration back into the community,
these sorts of exclusions can seriously impede successful re-integration into
the general community.[71]

Not only do these concerns hinder a woman's chances of obtaining secure
accommodation but they also contribute to the likelihood of re-offending.
Accommodation services that can cope with these complex issues in a holistic
fashion are urgently required.

Another concern is the situation of juvenile offenders being granted bail
pending suitable accommodation. In NSW, for homeless youth or youth who cannot
return home, magistrates have the option of setting bail with a condition that
relies on the responsible government department providing accommodation. In
these circumstances, the child will not be released on bail unless the
government department allocates accommodation. In the absence of available
accommodation, a child can remain in detention even if the original charge is
minor and, if convicted, would not attract a custodial sentence. There is a
pressing need for bail support accommodation, especially in rural areas where
accommodation is very
limited.[72]

Recommendation 15: Adequate and culturally appropriate accommodation
support services should be provided to Indigenous people exiting prison or
juvenile justice facilities and bail support accommodation should be made
available, especially in rural areas.

Mental health

HREOC welcomes the recognition of people with disability and in particular
people affected by mental illness, as being at particular risk of homelessness
and as having needs which are not adequately addressed by current service and
policy models. HREOC urges the focus on these issues to be maintained in the
development and implementation of a national strategy on homelessness.

HREOC’s own work supports the need, as identified in the Green Paper,
for integrated approaches to
homelessness.[73] Rather than
housing issues being addressed in isolation, an integrated approach could
include issues such as income support, assistance and supports in gaining or
retaining employment, and access to health services and related supports.

The principal recommendation of the National Inquiry on Employment and
Disability was for the development of a national strategy on disability and
employment issues, including addressing issues of co-ordination between services
and programs administered by different areas and levels of government. HREOC
welcomes the commitment of the new government to such a strategy and the
commencement of work towards its development. HREOC urges co-ordination between
the development of a national strategy on homelessness and the National Mental
Health and Disability Employment Strategy.

HREOC also welcomes the government’s commitment, within the framework
of its Social Inclusion Agenda, to the development of a broader National
Disability Strategy.

In view of the evidence referred to in the Green Paper of the scale of
overlap between homelessness issues and mental health and disability issues,
HREOC urges close co-ordination between the development of a national strategy
on homelessness and of the National Disability Strategy. In each case these
should integrate policy and strategy across areas and between levels of
government.

HREOC welcomes the commitments noted in the Green Paper for additional
funding specifically for community housing for people with disabilities. HREOC
also notes however, that substantial additional provision of funding is required
to address the needs and rights of those people with disability who require
housing and related support.

HREOC notes the importance of addressing the specific needs of Indigenous
people with mental health and disability issues in the context of homelessness.

It is important to integrate the homelessness strategy with other national
strategies that address mental health concerns of Indigenous people. In
particular the homelessness strategy should be cognisant of:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social and Emotional Well-Being
Framework: this focuses on the need for a holistic and ‘whole of
life’ approach to achieving the conditions for well-being. The Framework
supports self-determination and recognises the impact of trauma, grief, loss,
discrimination and human rights issues on the social and emotional well being of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
communities.[74]

National Mental Health Plan 2003-2008; this emphasises the need for
partnerships between mental health services and Indigenous specific health
services, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples taking a lead
role.[75]

There is currently no national data collection process that is able to
provide accurate information on the incidence of mental health disorders among
Indigenous people. The data currently collated is limited to hospitalisation
reports for suicide, substance abuse and family and community violence alone.
In 2006, 5% and 3% of all hospitalisations of Indigenous males and females
respectively were for mental and behavioural
disorders.[76]

Despite the prevalence of mental health problems in Indigenous communities,
there is a reported lack of response services available for Indigenous people.
Government reports show that non-Indigenous models of mental health and
ill-health have only limited application for Indigenous peoples: 74% of
residents of discrete communities have inadequate access to visiting or resident
mental health workers; Indigenous people have disproportionately low access to
general practitioners and private medical specialists, such as psychiatrists,
because of the cost of such services; and only 38% of Commonwealth funded
Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services have a dedicated mental health
or social and emotional wellbeing
worker.[77]

The lack of available services to address mental health disorders
experienced by Indigenous people makes them vulnerable to homelessness and
social exclusion.

Recommendation 16: Consideration should be given to development and
oversight through the Ministerial Council on housing of a national agenda on
housing and people with disability including people affected by mental
illness.

Accessibility

The preceding section has set out recommendations for actions in relation to
people with disability including people affected by mental illness which HREOC
considers should be taken in the interests of ensuring that measures to address
homelessness are effective and consistent with Australia’s international
commitments on human rights. HREOC also wishes to highlight specific issues in
relation to disability which in our view need to be addressed to ensure not only
that measures to address homelessness are effective, but also that they are
consistent with the requirements of federal law under the Disability
Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth).

HREOC welcomes the acknowledgment in the Green Paper of the need to address
barriers for people with disability in access to accommodation and related
services. HREOC recommends that this acknowledgment should be translated into
more specific measures to address these barriers.

Recommendation 17: The Commonwealth government should ensure
that:

federal funding for construction of new housing or other accommodation is
applied only to accessible facilities

state and territory governments similarly adopt universal access standards
in construction of new public housing and any other accommodation
facilities.

Immigration

Asylum seekers who seek refugee status in Australia and who are living in
the community are particularly vulnerable to homelessness.

While refugees and asylum seekers represent only a small proportion of
clients of housing assistance services, research has found that the unique
circumstances of this group places a greater level of demand on their
resources.[78]

Restricted
eligibility to entitlements

Asylum seekers are commonly granted bridging visas to enable them to remain
in Australia while they apply for a substantive visa or make arrangements to
leave Australia.

Bridging visas granted to asylum seekers often restrict the rights of the
visa holder to work, receive social security, and access Medicare and the
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.[80] Restricted bridging visas are often granted to asylum seekers who come to
Australia under a valid visa and wish to apply for a Permanent Protection visa,
but do not lodge their application within 45 days of arriving in Australia.

Many asylum seekers on bridging visas are also ineligible for support
through the Asylum Seeker Assistance Scheme
(ASAS).[81] The ASAS provides
financial assistance, accommodation and healthcare to asylum seekers in
financial hardship, unaccompanied minors or elderly people, parents with
children under 18, and people who are unable to work due to disability, illness,
torture or trauma. However, eligibility for the ASAS ceases if a person seeks
review of their application beyond the Refugee Review
Tribunal.[82]

As a result of these restrictions, many asylum seekers and refugees face
poverty and homelessness. Without the ability to support themselves through work
or social security, they are entirely dependent on community services for their
basic subsistence. Research has also shown that these pressures can have
negative effects on the physical and social well-being of asylum seekers,
including anxiety, depression, mental health issues and family
breakdown.[83]

HREOC is concerned that conditions and restrictions attached to bridging
visas may significantly impact on the ability of asylum seekers and refugees to
exercise their basic human rights, including the right to work, the right to
social security, the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to
the highest attainable standard of
health.[84]

Recommendation 18: Asylum seekers living in the community should be
granted work rights and access to Medicare. Those who are unable to work should
be granted access to financial and medical assistance through the
ASAS.

Settlement
barriers

Barriers to settlement have been shown to contribute to levels of poverty
and housing vulnerability amongst asylum seekers and refugees in Australia. As a result of language difficulties, lack of knowledge about services, lack
of community connections and support networks, and torture and trauma issues,
many asylum seekers are socially isolated and unable to seek
assistance.[85]

Children and young people seeking asylum in Australia have been found to be
at even greater risk of homelessness due to their distinct needs that must be
addressed independently of their family or carers’
needs.[86] Many young people have
had limited or disrupted schooling, they may come to Australia alone or in the
care of someone unfamiliar to them, and there may be significant religious and
cultural barriers that prevent them from taking advantage of available
services.[87]

Recommendation 19: Services for assisting settlement of asylum
seekers and refugees should be improved and expanded, including further language
support, health and education services, and free information and advice about
housing and settlement issues and special assistance for children.

Welfare payments

HREOC notes the recognition in the Green Paper of the potential of
‘breaching’ regimes and former provision for suspension of social
security payments for eight week periods, to render disadvantaged people (and in
some cases their families) homeless or put their housing at risk.

Access to welfare benefits can be an important means of preventing
homelessness and related social exclusion.

However, conditions in the current welfare regime often prevent people from
accessing vital welfare benefits and leaving them vulnerable to homelessness.

The Social Policy Research Centre has found that up to 30% of those faced
with an eight-week no payment penalty can lose their accommodation. This is
significant given the high numbers of people being subjected to the eight-week
no payment penalty. The Welfare Rights Network has reported that a total of 40
868 of these penalties have been applied since the commencement of
‘Welfare to Work’.[88] Startlingly, in northern Australia, 68% of those who lost all social security
payments for eight weeks were Indigenous people, and in Western Australia, 29%
of those who lost payments for eight weeks were Indigenous
people.[89]

In addition, homeless people are not categorised as being
‘exceptionally vulnerable’ within certain components of the welfare
regime, thus preventing them from accessing specific benefits for vulnerable
people. For example, within the current penalty regime, there is a Financial
Case Management (FCM) system to give some people who lose their payments for
eight weeks access to an equivalent weekly amount paid directly on their behalf
for ‘essential expenses’ such as food. However, under the rules for
the case management system, homeless people are not considered
‘exceptionally vulnerable’ and therefore unable to avail themselves
of this interim assistance.[90]

Similarly, the Crisis Payment available to people on a social security
payment is limited to a number of defined ‘extreme circumstances’
– for instance, people just out of prison, experiencing domestic violence
or on a qualifying humanitarian visa, is inadequate and insufficient to provide
the level of assistance needed to prevent homelessness for people in even these
few defined circumstances.[91]

Recommendation 20: There should be continued review of the impact of
compliance measures in the social security system on people who by reason of
mental health or other disability issues have particular difficulty in meeting
social security compliance requirements.

Recommendation 21: Welfare regimes should be reviewed and amended to
ensure that no welfare recipient is made vulnerable to homelessness as a result
of a welfare penalty.

Appendix – Recommendations

Recommendation 1: The Commonwealth government should develop a
national housing strategy. Addressing homelessness would be a key aspect of any
housing plan. This strategy should be developed in consultation with people who
are homeless or formerly homeless, people who are inadequately housed, and their
representatives.

Recommendation 2: The Supported Accommodation Assistance Act
1994 (Cth) should be amended to provide for a right, to be progressively
realised, to emergency housing and related services for those defined as
homeless.

Recommendation 3: The Supported Accommodation Assistance Act
1994 (Cth) should be amended to include national standards providing that
housing under the Act must be adequate.

Recommendation 4: The Supported Accommodation Assistance Act
1994 (Cth) should be amended to ensure that forced eviction from SAAP
accommodation is a measure of last resort.

Recommendation 5: The Commonwealth government should encourage and
facilitate a review of state and territory residential tenancy laws in order to
ensure compliance with international human rights standards, including
protection from forced
evictions.[92]

Recommendation 6: State and territory governments should be
encouraged to review and amend laws that disproportionately impact upon people
experiencing homelessness, such as public drinking laws and public sleeping
laws, to ensure that fundamental human rights are
protected.[93]

Recommendation 7: The government’s homelessness strategy should
be fully integrated with the development of the National Plan on Reducing
Violence against Women and Children.

Recommendation 8: The government’s homelessness strategy should
incorporate strategies which address the particular vulnerability of women to
homelessness due to poverty, and lack of economic security.

Recommendation 9: The SAAP funding framework should be amended to
recognise children and young people as a specific client group so that
designated funding can be provided for adequate child-specific services.

Recommendation 10: The Supported Accommodation Assistance Act
1994 (Cth) should be amended to incorporate the best interests of the child
as a principle guiding both the development of SAAP policy and the delivery of
homelessness services that affect children.

Recommendation 11: The Commonwealth government should coordinate the
development of a national care and protection policy to ensure that children at
risk of homelessness are given prioritised support.

Recommendation 12: Indigenous community programs and services that
provide accommodation and support for Indigenous children at risk should be
identified and supported.

Recommendation 13: The work of the National Joint Policy Commission
on Indigenous Housing should be integrated with the strategies targeting
homelessness to ensure a comprehensive national approach to Indigenous housing
and homelessness.

Recommendation 14: Indigenous community services to provide
accommodation support and assistance for Indigenous women and children
experiencing family violence should be supported, and mainstream SAAP services
should be adequately resourced to meet the specific needs of Indigenous women
and children.

Recommendation 15: Adequate and culturally appropriate accommodation
support services should be provided to Indigenous people exiting prison or
juvenile justice facilities and bail support accommodation should be made
available, especially in rural areas.

Recommendation 16: Consideration should be given to development and
oversight through the Ministerial Council on housing of a national agenda on
housing and people with disability including people affected by mental
illness.

Recommendation 17: The Commonwealth government should ensure
that:

federal funding for construction of new housing or other accommodation is
applied only to accessible facilities

state and territory governments similarly adopt universal access standards
in construction of new public housing and any other accommodation
facilities.

Recommendation 18: Asylum seekers living in the community should be
granted work rights and access to Medicare. Those who are unable to work should
be granted access to financial and medical assistance through the ASAS.

Recommendation 19: Services for assisting settlement of asylum
seekers and refugees should be improved and expanded, including further language
support, health and education services, and free information and advice about
housing and settlement issues and special assistance for children.

Recommendation 20: There should be continued review of the impact of
compliance measures in the social security system on people who by reason of
mental health or other disability issues have particular difficulty in meeting
social security compliance requirements.

Recommendation 21: Welfare regimes should be reviewed and amended to
ensure that no welfare recipient is made vulnerable to homelessness as a result
of a welfare penalty.

[1] HREOC is established by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (Cth)
(‘HREOC Act’). Sections 11 and 31 of the HREOC Act set out
HREOC’s functions relating to human rights and equal opportunity in
employment respectively. HREOC also has functions under the Commonwealth Sex
Discrimination Act 1984, Racial Discrimination Act 1975, Disability
Discrimination Act 1992 and Age Discrimination Act
2004.[2] Philip Lynch,
‘Homelessness, Human Rights and Social Inclusion’ (2005) 30(3) Alternative Law Journal 116. [3] The right to adequate
housing is recognised by article 11(1) of the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and article 27(3) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). This right is also reflected
in article 5(e)(iii) of the International Convention on the Elimination of
all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and article 14(2)(h) of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW). [4] Committee
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment 4: The right
to adequate housing, para
7.[5] CESCR, General Comment 4:
The right to adequate housing, para
8.[6] For more detailed discussion
of the human rights implications of homelessness, see Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity Commission, Homelessness is a Human Rights Issue, 2008,
available at
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/human_rights/housing/homelessness_2008.html. The
human rights relevant to people experiencing homelessness include: the right to
an adequate standard of living, including adequate housing; the right to life,
liberty and security of the person; the right to respect for privacy, family and
home, the right to freedom from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, the
right to the highest attainable standard of health; the right to social
security; the right to work; the right to education; the right to vote; the
right to participate in cultural and political life; the right to freedom from
discrimination; the right to freedom of expression; the right to freedom of
association; the right to freedom of movement; the right to a fair hearing and
effective remedy for violation of human rights; and the special rights of
children and young people.[7] Green Paper, Principles for change,
p57.[8] Green Paper, Principles
for change, p57.[9] CESCR, General Comment 3: The nature of States parties’ obligations, para
2.

[11]Report of the Special
Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate
standard of living, Miloon Kothari, Mission to Australia, A/HRC/4/18/Add.2,
11 May 2007, para 127.[12] See Report of the Special
Rapporteur.[13]Report of
the Special Rapporteur para 32. [14] Note that the Human
Rights Act 2004 (ACT) and Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities
Act 2006 (Vic) do not currently include economic, social and cultural
rights.[15] United Nations Human
Rights Council, Draft Report of the Human Rights Council on its Eighth
Session, UN Doc A/HRC/8/L.10 (26 June 2008) paras
109-113.[16]Supported
Accommodation Assistance Act 1994 (Cth), Preamble, section 5. [17] NSW Ombudsman, Summary
Report: Assisting homeless people – the need to improve their access to
accommodation and support services, May 2004,
p8.[18] CESCR, General
Comment 3: The nature of States parties’ obligations, paras
9-10.[19]Homelessness and
Human Rights in Australia, Submission to the Supported Accommodation
Assistance Program (SAAP IV) National Evaluation, November 2003, p34, fn9. [20]Housing (Homeless
Persons) Act 1977; Housing (Scotland) Act 2001; Homelessness etc.
(Scotland) Act 2003.[21] Such a right could be progressively implemented by gradually broadening the
categories of people who may rely on the right. See Homelessness and Human
Rights in Australia, recommendation 1. [22] See definition of
‘adequacy’ in CESCR, General Comment 4: The right to adequate
housing, para 8.[23]Homelessness and Human Rights in Australia, recommendation 2; CESCR, General Comment 4: The right to adequate housing, para
8.[24]Report of the Special
Rapporteur, para 16.[25]Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Act 1986 (Cth), s
3.[26]Homelessness and Human Rights in Australia, p11.
See for example Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW); Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld), s 7; Equal Opportunity Act
1995 (Vic), s 6; Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA).[27] Green Paper,
Identifying the Problem,
p10.[28]Report of the
Special Rapporteur, para 67. See also Human Rights Council, Basic
principles and guidelines on development-based evictions and displacement,
2007, A/HRC/4/18.[29] CESCR, General Comment 7: The right to adequate housing: forced
evictions, para 16.

[30]Homelessness and Human
Rights in Australia, recommendation
3.[31]Report of the Special
Rapporteur, para 17. [32]Report of the Special Rapporteur, para
69.[33]South African
Constitution, s 26. [34]Lingwood v The Unlawful Occupiers of R/E of Erf 9 Highlands (Unreported,
High Court of South Africa, Witwatersrand Local Division, Mogagabe AJ,16 October
2007). [35] This recommendation
was also made in the Report of the Special Rapporteur, para
131.[36] See for example: Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (Qld), ss 46-48; Law
Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 (NSW), s 197; Summary
Offences Act 1953 (SA), s 18; Police Offences Act 1935 (Tas), s 15B; Summary Offences Act 2002 (NT), s 47A; Crime Prevention Powers Act
1998 (ACT), s 4.[37] Memmott, P., Long, S., Chambers, C., and Spring, F., Categories of Indigenous
‘homelessness’ people and good practice responses to their
needs, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, 2003,
p(i).[38]International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), article 7; CRC, article 37;
Lynch, P. and Cole, J., ‘Homelessness and Human Rights: Regarding and
Responding to Homelessness as a Human Rights Violation’, Melbourne
Journal of International Law, 2003, vol 4,
pp147-149.[39]Jones v City
of Los Angeles, No. CV 03-01142 ER, (9th Cir. 2006); State v.
Wicks, Nos. 2711742 & 2711743, (Ore. Cir. Ct. Multnomah County 2000).
See also The National Coalition for the Homeless and The National Law Center on
Homelessness & Poverty, A Dream Denied: The Criminalisation of
Homelessness in U.S. Cities, 2006, pp10,
79-105.[40]Pottinger v
Miami, 810 F Supp 1551 (SD Fla,
1992).[41]Report of the
Special Rapporteur, paras 47,
132.[42]Report of the
Special Rapporteur, para
132.[43] Green Paper, pp15, 21,
41.[44] Green Paper,
p21.[45] Tually, S., Beer, A.,
and Faulkner, D., Too Big to Ignore: Future Issues for Australian
Women’s Housing 2006-2025, Australian Housing and Urban Research
Institute, Executive Summary, September 2007,
p(v).[46] Green Paper,
p20.[47] AHURI, Too Big to
Ignore, Executive Summary,
p(v).[48] HREOC, Listening
Tour Community Report (2008, forthcoming). [49] Green Paper, Structure of
the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program,
p29.[50]Supported
Accommodation Assistance Act 1994 (Cth), s
13(1).[51] National Youth
Commission, Australia’s Homeless Youth: A Report of the National Youth
Commission Inquiry into Youth Homelessness, 2008, Brunswick, para
9.8.[52] Green Paper, Causes of
homelessness, p24.[53] National
Youth Commission, Australia’s Homeless Youth, paras
9.9-9.20.[54] National Youth
Commission, Australia’s Homeless Youth, paras
9.21-9.44.[55] Green Paper,
Government reforms that will affect homelessness,
p73.[56] Northern Territory
Government, Board of Inquiry into Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual
Abuse, Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle ‘Little Children are
Sacred’, 2007, available at http://www.nt.gov.au/dcm/inquirysaac/pdf/bipacsa_final_report.pdf.[57] HREOC, Social Justice Report, 2007, available at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/sj_report/sjreport07/index.html. [58] See Queensland Government, Safe Haven, available at
http://www.communities.qld.gov.au/family/safe-haven/.[59] Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare, The Health and Welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Peoples, Canberra 2008, Table
4.16.[60] ABS, The Health and
Welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples,
p46.[61] ABS, The Health and
Welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples,
Table 4.17.[62] ABS, The
Health and Welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Peoples, p47.[63] United
Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Preliminary Observations,
Mission to Australia, 31 July – 15 August 2006, Canberra, 15 August
2006, p8, available at http://www.hreoc.gov.au/social_justice/international_docs/pdf/un_sp_housing_missiontoaustralia_15aug2006.pdf[64] Commonwealth of Australia, Commonwealth Advisory Committee on Homelessness and
the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Indigenous Homelessness within Australia’, 2006,
p9.[65] Commonwealth of
Australia, Indigenous Homelessness within Australia, 2006,
p9.[66]Report of the Special
Rapporteur, paras 80,
85.[67] The CESCR has noted that
cultural adequacy is an essential aspect of housing adequacy: “the way
housing is constructed, the building materials used and the policies supporting
these must appropriately enable the expression of cultural identity and
diversity of housing”: CESCR, General Comment 4: The right to adequate
housing, para 8(g).[68] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Analysis of National Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Housing Survey (2004–05) and National Health Survey
(2004–05), Table 2.02.2, available at http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/ihw/atsihpf06r/atsihpf06r-c02-02.pdf.[69]Little Children are Sacred,
p195.[70] HREOC, Social
Justice Report 2004, available at
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/sj_report/sjreport04/index.....[71] Ogilvy, E., 'Prisoners Post Release'-release', Parity - Post Release-release
and Homelessness Issue, vol 14, no 10, November 2001, pp16-17. [72] See for example, Bailey,
B., Submission to the Inquiry into Children and Young People 9-14 Years in
NSW, Public Interest Advocacy Centre, 15 May 2008, p6, available at
http://www.piac.asn.au/publications/pubs/08.04.23-PIAC%20CC%209%20to%201....[73] See for example Report of the National Inquiry on Employment and Disability,
2007, available at
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/employment_inquiry/index... Not for Service, Report of consultations undertaken by HREOC, the Mental
Health Council of Australia and the Brain and Mind Research Institute, available
at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/notforservice/index.html. [74] Social Health Reference
Group for National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Council and
National Mental Health Working Group, National Strategic Framework for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Mental Health and Social
and Emotional Well Being (2004–2009), available at http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/8E8CE65B4FD36C6DCA25722B008342B9/$File/wellbeing.pdf.[75] Australian Health Ministers, National Mental Health Plan 2003–2008,
available at http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/Publishing.nsf/Content/EE630ADE7F40F80FCA2572220002D081/$File/plan03.pdf.[76] ABS, The Health and Welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Peoples 2008, p111. [77] Social Health Reference
Group (2003), Consultation Paper for the Development of the National
Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and
Social and Emotional Well Being 2004-2009, Office of Torres Strait Islander
Health in the Commonwealth Department of Health and
Ageing.[78] Hanover
Welfare Services, A New Country – But No Place to Call Home, 2004,
Melbourne, p45.[79] Hanover
Welfare Services, A New Country,
p(xiv).[80] Australian
Government, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Fact Sheet 62 –
Assistance for Asylum Seekers in Australia, available at http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/62assistance.htm.[81] Hanover Welfare Services, A New Country, p17; Hotham Mission, Minimum
Standards of Care for Asylum Seekers in the Community, 2004, available at http://www.asp.hothammission.org.au/index.cgi?tid=25 [10 June 2008].[82] Department
of Immigration and Citizenship, Fact Sheet
62.[83] Network of Asylum
Seeker Agencies Victoria, Seeking Safety, Not Charity: A report in support of
work-rights for asylum-seekers living in the community on Bridging Visa E,
2005, pp27-30.[84] ICCPR,
articles 6; ICESCR, articles 9, 11, 12; CRC, articles 22, 24, 26, 27; CERD,
article 5(e).[85] Hanover
Welfare Services, A New Country,
pp26-31.[86] Drummond, S.,
‘Homeless Twice: Exploring Resettlement and Homelessness for Refugee Young
People’, Parity, vol 14, issue 1, 2001,
pp10-11.[87] Drummond, 2001,
pp10-11.[88] Raper, M., ’Social Security, homelessness and participation: Summary of
address given at Green Paper Roundtable’, National Welfare Rights Network,
Sydney, 28 March 2008.[89] Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration, Human Services
Portfolio, Additional Estimates, February 2008, HS 22, Questions on Notice,
cited in National Welfare Rights Network, Media Release, New data uncovers
massively increased level of eight week no payment penalties hit Indigenous
Australians hardest, 14 April 2008, Table1: Data on Indigenous penalties,
available at http://www.welfarerights.org.au/Policy%20papers%20%20submissions/Gt3108.doc. [90] Raper,
'2008.[91] Raper,
2008.[92] This recommendation
was also made in the Report of the Special Rapporteur, para
131.[93]Report of the
Special Rapporteur, para 132.